57 Moroccans die as thousands attempt to enter Ceuta

At least 57 people have died trying to reach the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after as many as 50,000 migrants entered the tiny territory from Morocco in what Spainish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called 'a violation of Spain’s territorial integrity'.

The migrants entered Ceuta from Morocco, the enclave's regional president, Juan Jesus Vivas, told reporters. By Friday evening, however, officials said more than 48,000 had returned.

The huge influx, which took place over the course of just 24 hours, overwhelmed the city of 85,000 people, triggered a political crisis for Madrid and led to a mixed reaction from other EU countries, including calls for Spain to be suspended from the Schengen free-movement zone, report international media outlets Al Jazeera, AP, AFP and The Guardian.

People try to cross from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Thursday. Photograph: Antonio Sempere/AP

Sánchez, who arrived in Ceuta on Friday morning, said he would use all the resources at his disposal to guarantee the safety of the city’s population.

He attributed the mass crossing to 'human trafficking mafias' that had taken advantage of a decision by Spain’s supreme court, which recently ruled that those intercepted at sea while trying to enter Ceuta, or Spain’s other north African enclave of Melilla, could not be summarily returned under special rules.

Sánchez said: “That has spread like wildfire during these last few hours through the networks of mafias that traffic in human beings and has produced an avalanche of the characteristics and dimension that we experienced yesterday.”

Sánchez said a temporary reception centre would be established to facilitate the documentation, registration, triage and 'expedited' expulsion of people with no legal claim to be in Spain.

Graphic design courtesy: The Guardian

He also said the government would erect a visible barrier – a line of buoys – near the breakwater at Ceuta’s Tarajal beach to make it clear where the border was, and to legally comply with the court’s ruling.

Although the Spanish government said about 50,000 people had crossed the border on Thursday and in the early hours of Friday, the president of Ceuta put the figure at about 60,000.

Spain’s interior ministry, which has deployed additional police officers and soldiers to the enclave, said more than 48,300 people had voluntarily returned to Morocco by 6pm on Friday.

The Irish presidency of the EU has convened a meeting of member states on Saturday, under the Integrated Political Crisis Response mechanism.

EU sources said this will provide experts from member states with an opportunity “to discuss the movements into Ceuta over the last two days, the numbers of people who have returned to Morocco today, the supports being provided by the EU to Spain and diplomatic engagement with Morocco”.

A further meeting of EU ambassadors has been called in Brussels on Monday.

Spain’s interior ministry said more than 48,300 people decided to return to Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Friday. Photograph: Antonio Sempere/AP

The latest incident dwarfs the last mass border crossing in May 2021, when Morocco loosened its border controls, allowing about 10,000 people to enter the territory over the course of two days.

That crossing came amid heightened tensions between Madrid and Rabat over Spain’s decision to allow the leader of the Western Sahara independence movement, the Polisario Front, to be treated for Covid-19 in Spain. Morocco and the Polisario Front both lay claim to Western Sahara, which was under Spanish rule until 1975, when colonial authorities handed over the territory to Morocco and Mauritania.

That diplomatic crisis ended in 2022 when Madrid reversed its longstanding policy of neutrality and backed Morocco’s plan for Western Sahara – a move that had caused a diplomatic rift between Spain and Algeria, which had supported the Polisario group.

Sánchez visited Algiers on 20 July – the first such visit by a Spanish head of government in four years – marking a thaw in relations with Algeria.

Moroccan government sources told the Europa Press news agency that the surge of people entering Ceuta was down to “criminal organisations” and insisted that Rabat’s cooperation with Spain remained “exemplary”.

Morocco’s ambassador to Spain, Karima Benyaich, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that “we have always prioritized legal, orderly and safe migration for all” and indicated that the situation had developed against Rabat’s wishes.

People waiting on the Moroccan side of the border for a chance to cross to Ceuta. Photo: Reuters

"Trafficking mafias"

Madrid rushed troops, more police, drones, divers and boats to the outpost that it has run for centuries as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his interior minister visited on Friday.

Overnight into Saturday, AFP journalists observed groups of young people wandering the beaches and streets of Ceuta. Dozens of men slept on the sand.

There was a massive police and military presence in the area, and some young people were seen turning back, saying "adios" or "goodbye" to officers before crossing over the border to Morocco.

Inside the city, shops were closed, and annual fiestas were cancelled.

"It's catastrophic," said Mohammed, a local taxi driver and Ceuta resident.

"Sure, we sympathise with them—they're having a terrible time in their own country, and all that—but this isn't the way to enter a place, nor is it a way to live."

Previous migrant surges have occurred during tensions between Spain and Morocco.

Sanchez visited Algiers on July 20—the first such visit by a Spanish head of government in four years—marking a thaw in relations with Morocco's rival, Algeria.

Migrants try to cross the border fence by swimming from the Moroccan side into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Thursday. Photo: Fabian Bimmer/Reuters

But it was not clear if there was any connection between that visit and this latest influx.

In Ceuta, Sanchez blamed the surge on people traffickers spreading rumours about a Spanish Supreme Court ruling this month that irregular migrants arriving by sea could not be immediately returned.

"What has emerged from our talks with Moroccan authorities is that trafficking mafias took a self-serving interpretation of a Supreme Court ruling," he said.

Diplomatic fallout

Fears over the crowds entering EU member states sparked diplomatic fallout.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen called the scenes in Ceuta 'unacceptable'.

"We cannot allow anyone to come to our (European) Union without abiding by our rules," she said on social media.

Migrants swim through the waters close to the border with Morocco to enter Spain's north Africa's Ceuta enclave on July 31, 2026. Photo: Jorge Guerrero/AFP

Finland and Denmark on Friday backed Italy's move, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz demanded that Morocco 'take back illegal migrants immediately'.

France and Britain said they stood ready to help Spain deal with the sudden surge, even as France tightened border checks.

Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said he was considering reinforcing border checks but saw no need to suspend Spain from the Schengen zone.

Trump, meanwhile, warned, "It looks like an invasion of a country by hundreds of thousands of people, and that same thing's going to happen to us if the Republicans don't get elected, except worse, much bigger."

Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares sought to allay fears, saying it was "not possible to travel from Ceuta and Melilla to the Peninsula without identifying oneself at a police checkpoint", referring to Spain's two North African enclaves.

Migrants attempting to cross into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta gather on a hilltop during clashes with Moroccan security forces near the town of Fnideq, on the Morocco-Spain border, on July 31, 2026. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Successive crises

Ceuta, a territory of 18.5 square kilometres (seven square miles), and the nearby enclave of Melilla are Europe's only two land borders with Africa.

Moroccan authorities have not yet issued an official statement on the flow of migrants.

During a similar surge in 2021, more than 10,000 migrants reached Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco over two days during a diplomatic dispute between the two countries.

The row erupted after Spain decided to provide medical treatment to a leader of the Polisario Front, whose guerrillas fought a long war with Rabat over the independence of Western Sahara.

The crisis ended in 2022 when Madrid reversed its long-standing policy of neutrality and backed Morocco's plan for Western Sahara, a move that caused a diplomatic rift between Madrid and Algiers.